Low maintanace veg tips

Having been on an allotment waiting list for 3 years, I decided it's time to take things into my own hands and make my own! I've seen several sites that look good but all would have to be discreet, so no digging up huge areas. Ideally I need advice for plants that can cope with a bit of competition and preferably crop well. I'll start the ball rolling with Jerusalem Artichoke!

Jerusalem artichokes are attractive plants, but they can become a real pain if you want to grow anything else because they're so invasive. Once you have them, that's it. Also, bear in mind that they grow about 12 feet tall, on slender stems, and may not do so well on the blustery Yorkshire coast.

There are lots of other vegetables you could try that would be both quicker cropping and easier to grow than artichokes, as well as being more discreet. Broad beans are one of the easiest and will crop in about 14 weeks from a spring sowing (compared to up to 50 weeks for the artichokes). Shallots are wonderfully rewarding to grow - plant a bulb in spring and in about 18 weeks, each bulb will have multiplied by ten. Chard is also quick and easy and you can start picking it in 12 weeks. Other quick and easy veg include radishes, parsnips, onions, courgettes, potatoes, garlic and leeks.

In addition to the "low maintenance" mandate, I'm curious about "safe to eat". I've got a lot where I don't know the history, and it might be really polluted. I'm fine doing some GG'ing with beautiful flowers and bushes, but if I can get some herbs or veggies, that would be great! However, for all I know there was a dry cleaners there 20 years ago. The lot could be polluted as anything ... will that come up into the veggies?

Plant (and discard) spinach (ISTR) the first season. It pulls lead from the soil.

Add a BUNCH of green manure this year. Till it in. Between the bioremediation of the bacteria and the added drainage afforded by all the organic material, it should be in safe (or better) condition next year.

Natural processes, given a boost, will handle things just fine in 1-3 years. In fact, you have to keep the assault up to keep nature from doing its job.